WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York is the clear loser in the tentative deal to end the shutdown, pundits and politicians across the spectrum said Monday.
After eight Senate Democrats broke ranks Sunday, voting to reopen the government, House Democrat Ro Khanna of California said on social media that Schumer proved too weak to hold his caucus together in the standoff and should be toppled from his leadership perch.
Former operatives for each party — Republican Sean Spicer and Democrat Dan Turrentine — said Schumer was foolish to usher Democrats into the shutdown in the first place because he had no viable strategy.
Turrentine, a former Democratic National Committee strategist, added that the minority party never wins shutdown battles.
“The shutdown caucus is 0 for 14,” said Turrentine, appearing Monday with Spicer on “The Morning Meeting” podcast hosted by longtime journalist Mark Halperin.
But Spicer and Turrentine agreed that Democrats now have a clear path ahead to push their health care agenda.
“Republicans better get their act together really quick,” said Spicer, who was a spokesman for the Republican National Committee and later for the White House in President Donald Trump’s first term.
In a Monday speech on the Senate floor, Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso addressed the tenative deal.
“This shutdown has hurt our economy, and it has hurt our country," he said. "The government is finally on the path to reopening. This is the right result. This is what the American people need.
"They need certainty, and opening the government provides that level of certainty that the American people want, especially heading into the holidays."
In Senate debate over the weekend, U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, lamented Democrats' desire for "billions of dollars to give to insurance companies for a broken health care system" — a reference to the enhanced Obamacare tax credits set to expire at the end of this year.
Overplayed Hand
Spicer and Turrentine agreed that Democrats appeared — and still appear — to hold the upper hand on the issue of health insurance affordability.
Schumer’s mistake, they said, was using the prospect of a shutdown, and then the shutdown itself, as leverage to demand an extension of Obamacare tax credits to stave off steep hikes in health insurance premiums.
According to the pair of pundits, time worked against the Democrats amid mounting disruptions to daily life.
Those included food aid uncertainty, air travel snarls, and missing paychecks for federal workers — an enormous number of whom live in the heavily blue Washington, D.C., region that includes the Virginia and Maryland suburbs.
“The Dems were never going to win this, and they knew it. It was just a matter of time before you — quote — ‘cave,’” Spicer said on Halperin’s podcast.
Trump and Senate Republicans stymied the Democrats on the minority party’s health care demands.
Spicer said Schumer should have chosen the path of keeping the government open, and then launch an attack on the GOP over the Affordable Care Act tax credits.
“If Schumer had been a real leader, he would have said, ‘I’m going to box them in on an issue they don’t have an answer for,'” Spicer said.
“Every one of those Democrats owes a debt of gratitude to the eight that [broke ranks], because the reality was, all it was going to do is get more painful,” Spicer said. “I think the reality is, those eight people bailed out everybody else.”
“I totally agree with you,” Turrentine said. “When the party says ‘just squeeze harder,’ and, like, ‘We’ll keep it shut down until January,’ that’s insane in terms of people’s lives. It just is.”
The Democrats must now rebound, pressing ahead on health care, Turrentine said.
“What you do is you say: ‘We lost the battle, but we’re going to win the war’" on health care, Turrentine said. “That’s where the party’s got to get its head around. We are on offense in that fight.”
Barrasso said health care will be a battleground issue moving forward.
“The debate ahead is also about the many failures of the Obama health care law — known as Obamacare," he said. "This is a debate that Republicans welcome. Health care in America is broken and is unaffordable and it broke the day they passed Obamacare.
"Costs have exploded. Obamacare premiums have gone up 221%. That’s what’s happened since the law passed."
Amended Continuing Resolution
The tentative deal to end the shutdown was awaiting final Senate passage, possibly Monday.
The deal calls for an extension of current funding levels through January, plus the enactment of three overwhelmingly bipartisan spending bills for fiscal 2026.
The total package is an amended version of a House-passed continuing resolution. After final Senate passage, the legislation must go back to the House for the last stamp of congressional approval, then it goes to Trump’s desk.
The shutdown hit day 41 on Monday, the longest in history.
Trump had threatened firings of federal workers and permanent withholdings of back pay due to the shutdown.
The tentative deal saves those jobs and ensures the back pay. But while the legislation in this regard is a rebuke to Trump, it does not amount to a policy win for Democrats.
The amended legislation also protects all food aid programs.
Spicer said Republicans must not revel in a shutdown victory, but rather, deal with health care in such a way that does hurt them in the midterm elections.
“This is where we can’t take our foot off the gas and go, ‘OK, we won.’” Spicer said. “It’s ‘Now what?’”
Lummis told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that Schumer's strategy failed for much the same reason cited by Spicer and Turrentine.
"The Democrats' strategy imploded because they chose to shut down the government and hurt American families rather than simply support a clean CR that they had no problem backing under [former President Joe Biden's administration]," she said.
By a "clean CR," Lummis was referring to an extension of current funds with no policy riders.
Said Lummis: "This blatant hypocrisy had real consequences: chaos at airports, military families struggling to pay bills, and parents across Wyoming unable to feed their kids. The way they handled this was absolutely shameful and it's one reason why the American people are so fed up with the Democrats.”
Sean Barry can be reached at sean@cowboystatedaily.com.
